Share via

Treatment for paralysis has taken a step forward after scientists regrew spinal cord neurons from a patient’s own cells for the first time.

The neurons, grown from cells taken from an 86-year-old man, were implanted into the spines of rats and rapidly formed tens of thousands of connections deep into the animal’s brain and along the length of the spinal cord.

The finding that artificially implanted cells cause the nervous system to spontaneously “rewire” raises the prospect that one day patients’ spinal cords could be regenerated from their own cells, allowing them to overcome devastating injuries. At present there is